Charlemagne brought the Germanic peoples to a kind of faith by threatening to cut off their heads unless they obeyed. The followers of Mohammed threatened death or tribute to those who would not be converted to their vision. The Inquisition brought the Auto-Da-Fe to those souls who didn’t conform to the loving arms of “Holy Mother Church.” These examples from time-gone-by have their representatives in every age. People who require others to believe, or at least to pay lip service their construct. It doesn’t take much thinking to see how wrong this is.
Almost everyone has some belief system or philosophy of life. At the very least, there is a “leave me alone” attitude. It is inherent to all that we want others to appreciate, even to share in what we understand. No one wants to be alone. Some believe their point of view is beneficial for others to possess. Some would say essential, crucial, even required for saving the planet, or whatever. Okay, so there is some kind of conviction out there. But it doesn’t even begin to make sense that one would want another to share in the same belief through threatening death if they don’t.
What kind of fellowship would there be if fellow adherents to a faith (even a minority of them) came to that practice because they were afraid of being tortured, or having their family members killed, or having their livelihoods stripped from them? – Or at the very least, having some social ostracism placed against them? It would be a fellowship of fear; creating toadies, bullies, debauched thugs, smarmy lip service, and maybe a generation or two down the line, someone who thinks they actually believe. What a foundation!
It might be well to make a brief distinction between coercion for the sake of faith and the proper use of law enforcement which every nation requires to exist. Faith is a matter of the heart. Law enforcement is a matter of government. What gets nasty is when the government wants to be the lens through which all must appreciate life, the heart of faith. I’ll leave it to you to discern where this has been done in recent history and is in motion now. I will say a great potential for totalitarianism is found in the advocacy of climate control, herding minds through the fear of global warming.
In truth, what God requires is repentance. “. . .God. . .now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts. 17:30-31) Repentance does not have the stink of coercion. The information contained therein does have notice of fair warning; we will be judged by One who has risen from the dead. Buy hey, that’s in the future isn’t it? Those words don’t put a steely edge against your throat or mine. We can’t hear the cocking of a firing mechanism. The only way it makes sense is if you have faith. Who has the consequences? I only know of One who has risen from the dead to die no more. He is the One to judge, not some gang of thugs – no matter how princely they may appear. Repentance requires a love of the truth which cannot be coerced.